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In my hometown there isn't too much Brazilian zouk going on, where could I learn (fast)?I'm dying to know more - everything - about zouk, what's the nearest intensive course I can find?Are there any teacher training courses for Brazilian zouk?

No - I'm not here selling you a course on anything. But it looks like there are a lot of people itching to take their dancing to the next level, as I do get a lot of questions for recommendations on intensive training weeks and teacher coursers. And since I do actually keep track of events like this, I thought I'd help you out with a list of events for you to look into! (By the way, THANK YOU for sending me your questions! I have a bunch of other questions that I will try to reply as soon as possible :))

DEAR READER...

First of all, I fully (FULLY) recommend taking part in regular, weekly classes and being a part of local progressive training groups. I also very much appreciate every dancer who even on occasion joins classes on lower levels to refresh the details on your dance technique. There's no such thing as a class that would be "too basic" when you really want to become that most wanted leader or follower on the dance floor.

...But... I realise that all of us don't have the opportunity to take regular classes for various reasons. And, even if you do have the luxury of training weekly, it's a really worthy experience to immerse yourself on intensive dance programs. Also those of us who teach or plan to start teaching, these types of training weeks and teacher's courses are a huge help (or a complete necessity) to inspire and to supplement your dance foundation & regular training.

WHAT TYPE OF EVENTS ARE ON THIS LIST?

To help you out in finding what options are available during the past month I've collected a list of intensive courses on Brazilian zouk. Here I mean progressive and structured courses on Brazilian zouk with full daily program of workshops (typically around 5-8 hours of classes per day) with a limited amount of participants (e.g. max 10-25 leaders & 10-25 followers) and for a limited time period; this list includes courses from two days to one month. These events are not to be mixed with congresses or festivals that have a mix of workshops with a larger number of students with no specific progressive structure, or weekend workshops / courses where the range of the program is more limited (e.g. 3h per day). There are typically two types of events:

Intensive courses for dancers - for (advanced) social dancers and dance enthusiasts with a program focused on dance technique and social dancing including mostly hands-on dance exercises.

Teacher courses - for current or future teachers of Brazilian zouk with a program focused on teaching methodologies in addition to dance technique, including both lectures and dance exercises. Note that many dance schools focused on Brazilian zouk offer also long-term teacher training in addition to these shorter courses listed below.

The details below offer only a short summary so do check and consult with the organisers themselves if you have any doubts about the contents, what's included and who the courses are suitable for. Note that some of these courses have specific requirements for the dance level (e.g. "must have 2 years of experience dancing Brazilian zouk"). The lists below is in no means complete: I do appreciate if you send me a message if you happen to come across an event that's not listed below! If you find this list helpful I'll make sure to make another one for 2018 ;)

I Want more zouk - where to go?

While the number of big, established Zouk congresses (see here a list of the 2017 events) fluctuates, one thing is for certain: there's an ever increasing amount of Brazilian zouk events of all types! A demand for intensive courses like the ones presented above has been rising steadily and it's nice to see that those are now being arranged. Of course it's a tough choice to say which courses are "the best" and what's best suited for one person's interests and needs may not be the best for you. Seek recommendations from dancers whose interests match yours and who possible already have visited one or several events. Follow the teachers you know and trust - and of course seek to know more and keep yourself open for new things.

In addition to congresses and these intensive / immersive courses and teacher training, there's a large number of small & medium sized local zouk weekends with international visiting artists - and also visiting social dancers. For these, keep an eye on dance schools around your area and Facebook groups.

Submit an event

Do you know of an progressive intensive course or teacher training program that's not on the above list ? Notice any broken links, wrong dates or other errors?

Zouk The World

Zouk The World - your information source on Brazilian zouk around the world.

On Zouk The World you’ll find articles about dance technique, dance festival reviews and the zouk congress calendar, latest news in the zouk world and music links. We'll also publish personal stories from your favorite artists as well as from local dancers that make zouk happen around the world. Zouk The World = everything you need to know on your zouk journey!